Ultimate Roger Federer fan site and a blog for "The Greatest Player of All Time". Check all the latest news, results, photos, videos and much more including his Twin daughters, Twin sons and off court activities.

As tumultuous a day as professional tennis has produced in its nearly
half-century history ended in the most unforeseeable, unexplainable way
of all: a second-round loss by Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion and 17-time Grand Slam champ
shuffled off Centre Court with dusk approaching on the fortnight's first
Wednesday, his streak of reaching at least the
quarterfinals at a record 36 consecutive major tournaments snapped by a
man ranked 116th.

“You just go back to work and come back stronger really. It’s
somewhat simple. It’s hard to do sometimes. But usually, I do
turnarounds pretty good. I'm looking forward to what's to come. I hope I
can play a good summer, a good end to the season. This is clearly not
what I was hoping for here today at this tournament.”

Federer’s loss ended one of the most impressive streaks in sports.
Entering The Championships at SW19, Federer had made 36 successive trips
to the quarter-finals or better at Grand Slams, which
began nine years ago at the All England Club. Though now in territory he
hasn’t been in during the pinnacle of his career, Federer declared that
his time is far from up.

“I still have plans to play for many more years to come. It's normal
that after all of a sudden losing early after being in the quarters 36
times, people feel it's different,” said Federer. “You guys hyped it up
so much: me playing Rafa, and we're both out. So there's a letdown
clearly. Maybe it's also somewhat a bit disrespectful to the other
opponents who are in the draw still. I think it sends a message to you
guys as well that maybe you shouldn't do that so often next time
around.”

While he denied that it was the end of an era, Federer was pragmatic
about the implications of his defeat. Wimbledon had been a place Federer
relied on to find inspiration or jump start his results. Last year,
after narrowly avoiding an early loss to Julien Benneteau in the third round, Federer went on to defeat Andy Murray in the final to reclaim the No. 1 Ranking and extended his No. 1 ranking to a record 302 weeks.

“Right now, this is a setback, a disappointment, whatever you want to
call it,” Federer said. “But then overall, I think I played great eight
months ago at the Barclays World Tour Finals, I played great at the
Australian Open. You know, if things would have gone my way, maybe I
could have done a bit more.”

“Overall, I think I've been playing actually not so bad, like some
have portrayed it. Season's not over here. Only just in the middle.
Still have a lot of tennis left. That's what I try to use for a good
end to the season.”

Federer also credited his opponent for executing a game plan that he fully expected.

“I knew he was going to do that. He does it regularly. So he's
comfortable doing it,” said Federer. “I believe it is a tactic you can
use, if you play it the right way, if you have a big enough serve, you
move good enough.”

“Clearly you also got to be good enough from the baseline on the
return because you need a break once in a while. That's exactly what he
was able to do today. I was impressed. I don't think from this point on
I'm going to start serve volleying, but hopefully other players will in
the future.”

Federer believes experienced players, like Stakhovsky, have
become more confident playing on the grand stages against the game’s
elite, in comparison to year's past.

“I think there was a time where some players didn't believe they
could beat the top guys. So maybe there's a little bit of a thing
happening at the moment,” said Federer. “I'm happy about that, that
players believe they can beat the best on the biggest courts in the
biggest matches.”

“I think that belief is very important. We're missing the teenagers
overall, so it's up to other guys to do it like we've seen this week, at
other places as well. All we can do is give it all we have, be a
professional, train hard, do all the right things, what you're supposed
to be doing. I hope they are also doing it if they're lower in the
rankings.”